BluegrassForeclosure.com

This shouldn’t be a shocker that many states are in fiscal trouble, including Kentucky.  Kentucky made the top 15 list of states in the most trouble as reported by CNNMoney.com.  Not something we need to be known for right now.

“The list is based on several factors, including the loss of state revenue, size of budget gaps, unemployment and foreclosure rates, poor money management practices, and state laws governing the passage of budgets. . . .

. . . In a separate study released Wednesday, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that states will likely have to make steep cuts in their fiscal 2011 budgets, which start next July 1 in most states. That’s because the critical federal stimulus dollars will run out by the end of 2010.”

So what is it going to be?  Raise taxes and pinch an already over-burdened middle class?  Or, slash critical services, like education, which are needed to re-train current workers and attract knowledge workers in the new information economy?  Or, the third option, stick your head in the sand, make no hard decisions, and hope that somewhere down the line someone else does it for you . . . You decide which is most likely . . .

UPDATE: similar article, giving more detail on why states are in such trouble.

UPDATE II:  here’s the full report from the Pew Center on the States.